Originally posted by Novembers Paul
This debate between d/ling music, and buying it is rather annoying. It's everwhere now, and there's two sides to every coin. On the side of the "buyer", you get hammered with CD prices, not so much in underground metal, becasue The End Records and Dark Symphonies sells cd's for $10, but some CDs found in the chain stores could cost up to $16-$20 a disc. "Buyers" get pissed off, and in return, d/l the music, burn the disc, and enjoy the music for free. Here's the problem with that. It has very little to do with royalties, as so many people love to argue. A bands true fan, will purchase the CD anyway. The band isn't losing out on money. Most people who d/l a CD, and arnt really a fan, listen to it once or twice, and it never gets played again. They wouldn't give a band money anyway. The problem comes in with the record companies, charging way too much for a CD, to try to "make up" for the loss of profit, where people d/l the music. This is the case where an actual fan of a band, and lets face it, no one likes just ONE band. If this person were to pay those prices for every CD they wanted, they would need to take out a loan. So, again, they d/l it for free. Here's how it hurts the music industry, and will eventually hurt you, the "Buyer". Lets forget about artist royalties. They still get paid for CD's sold. If the record company does not sell as many copies of the CD, as projected, estimated sales should be, the bands NEXT cd recording budget will be less, and less. Tour support will diminish, and your product will suffer greatly. Here's an example. We worked with a producer, who used to get anywhere from 60, to 100 thousand to record a CD. Now, because of the hit the music industry has taken, due to d/ling music, he's lucky if he can get $5000. This may not seem like a big deal to you now, but guys like this will eventually say "screw it", and find some other music related avenue for work, leaving the small recording budgets and the band in a tight spot. A band like Opeth, who does most of the work themselves in the studio, may not suffer from this much, but I promise you, many others will. There's no way to stop d/ling music. They can try, and come up with copy protection, but in two days, someone will have a way around it. It's just how technology advances, and music progresses. I'm not for either side. Im guilty of owing MP3's I didn't pay for my self, but I DO buy any CD from a band that I support. Seriously though, unless your Metallica, you don't make much money off the CD sales. The band makes the money off of the Touring, and the Merch. In order to do this, they need the support from the label, and the label needs CD sales to justify putting the band on a tour. It's an ugly circle, and an uglier business. Bottom line, if you d/l music, and you like it enough to listen to it mre then once, BUY it. It helps everyone in the long run.
So, the only way for the band to truly benefit, whether you're talking profit to the band or satisfying the label, is for the fans to actually buy CDs.
